


if this is love, i don't want it

by rivalelaine



Category: Naruto
Genre: Anti-Konoha, Gen, No beta we die with honor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-20
Updated: 2019-06-20
Packaged: 2020-05-15 07:46:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19291354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rivalelaine/pseuds/rivalelaine
Summary: The “Will of Fire burns fervently within all of us” is bullshit she will never buy, because her village breeds child soldiers to put food on their plates and a false sense of security on their borders.





	if this is love, i don't want it

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Even lambs have teeth](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14075118) by [Dovey](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dovey/pseuds/Dovey). 



**PROLOGUE: Beginnings**

 

(It’s never been a question of who you should be protecting. It’s always been how.)

 

* * *

 

At age six, Nakamura Yuhi wanted to protect her older brother.

He’s always been sickly, and physical activities tire him out too quickly; he ends up having high fevers and too little platelets. Most of their family fund goes to his medicine and hospital bills—she can already hear her mother apologizing for not getting her the toy she used to want—and she can see the guilt in her brother’s eyes.

“It’s fine,” she reassures him, ruffling his hair. “I could always sew my own, nii-san.”

He doesn’t believe her, but he doesn’t say anything else. He only smiles.

 

* * *

 

At age seven, Nakamura Yuhi wanted to protect her older brother.

It’s this resolve that pushes her to enroll into the academy with a scholarship when she passed the entrance exam with flying colors and a promise to maintain high grades throughout the years to come. She thinks that maybe, maybe, if she studies hard enough and work hard enough when she graduates, she can earn more money for her brother’s medicine and hospital bills. When she opens the door to the classroom, she thinks, for a moment, that she can finally protect him.

(But, from the very first day of academy, it was ingrained in her mind and her classmates that loyalty to the village is of utmost importance. It goes without saying that Konoha, where they were born and raised from the moment they opened their eyes, is the one they should protect above all else.)

The next few weeks, she isn’t so sure why she’s even there.

 

* * *

 

 

At age seven, Uchiha Itachi wanted to protect his younger brother.

He graduates top of his class (and the clan is so, so proud; deep in his mind, though, he really just wants to protect Sasuke; he needs to get better each day if he were to be a proper role model). Sasuke doesn’t _seem_ to mind that the hurdle is too high. (He’s proud, really, but maybe he’s just not like his brother. He’s just a talented kid. Not a prodigy. Just talented. But he’ll catch up.

He has to.)

            Itachi doesn’t want Sasuke to grow up too fast. (He doesn’t know what he’s been doing has done the complete opposite of what he wants.)

 

* * *

 

At age thirteen, Uchiha Itachi wanted to protect his younger brother.

So he kills his clansmen when he was given the choice by higher-ups: kill the entire clan, or do the same but be able to leave Sasuke alive.

Sasuke, who would have to watch their father and mother die by the hands of his own brother. Sasuke, who would have to live alone without any help because the Uchiha clan are ostracized as is.

Because this is what it means to protect someone.

(Because this is what it means to protect Konoha.)

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This work is inspired by Dovey's "Even lambs have teeth"! Go check it out; it's beautiful!


End file.
